JERUSALEM - (KRT) - Sheik Ahmed Yassin,
the founder and spiritual leader of the militant Hamas movement, was killed
along with his bodyguards early Monday in a strike by Israeli helicopters in
Gaza City.

The Palestinian sheik was being pushed in his wheelchair from dawn
prayers at a mosque in the Sabra neighborhood when three missiles struck, killing
him and three bodyguards and wounding 13 other people, including one of his
sons, witnesses said.

Stunned worshipers emerged from the mosque to survey the scene.
One man wept as he held up a wheel of Yassin's smashed wheelchair. Another held
up a piece of the sheik's bloodstained robe. Bits of flesh and blood covered
the area.

Yassin, 69, a paraplegic, was the most senior Palestinian leader
to be killed by the Israelis in more than three years of conflict.

A short time after the attack, announcements of the sheik's death
and Koran verses were broadcast over mosque loudspeakers in Gaza City, accompanied
by bursts of gunfire in the streets.

"We swear by the name of God that we will take revenge,"
shouted one mosque announcer, weeping. "Killing for killing, destruction
for destruction. God is great." Local radio stations broadcast Koran verses
and nationalist songs.

As news of Yassin's death spread through Gaza City, street protests
erupted and thousands of Palestinians streamed toward his home.

The Israeli army confirmed that it had killed Yassin, saying he
was "responsible for numerous murderous terror attacks resulting in the
deaths of many civilians."

The army sealed of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Gaza was divided
in three sections by Israeli blockades.

Yassin was a main target of an Israeli campaign against Hamas launched
after a double suicide bombing last week at the Israeli port of Ashdod that
killed 10 Israelis.

The Israeli government ordered strikes against Hamas leaders and
raids against Hamas strongholds that have killed more than a dozen Palestinians
since last Monday.

Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, a top Hamas leader who was himself the target
of a failed Israeli assassination attempt last year, called the killing "the
assassination of the dignity of the nation."

"The Israelis will pay the price for this, and the lions of
Izzedin al-Qassam will retaliate appropriately," he added, referring to
the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which has killed scores of Israelis
in suicide bombings and other attacks.

Palestinian Authority officials also denounced the attack.

"This is a crazy and very dangerous act. It opens the door
wide to chaos. Yassin is known for his moderation and he was controlling Hamas
and therefore this is a dangerous, cowardly act,'' said Palestinian Prime Minister
Ahmed Qureia.